Candy was
walking through the corridors of the hospital towards the exit briskly paying no
attention to what was going on around her. She was not happy with the news at
all. In fact she was very upset to have heard them. “From all places,” she
murmured, “from all other places of this country… why did it have to be New
York?”

“Candy…wait!” Upon hearing her name she turn around to see Erin,
the Irish vivacious red head girl, who was her room mate. She waited for her to
catch up with her.

“Some news, huh?” Erin said excitedly.

“Yeah,”
Candy said in a low voice. “Wonderful…”

“I am so excited, I have never
been to New York, have you?”

“Just once…”

“Oh, it is going to be
so much fun…!” Erin continued chattering happily oblivious to Candy’s
preoccupation. They walked out of the hospital and made their way to the front
gates where the two girls bid goodbye to each other. Erin’s parents were picking
her up to spend the weekend together and Candy’s friends, Archie and Annie, were
waiting for her by their car to take her to the Ardlay mansion.

Candy
greeted her friends with enthusiasm then they all boarded the vehicle. Archie
was driving and Annie was talking animatedly about a masquerade ball that she
and Archie were invited to attend on Halloween, three weeks later.

“…all
of Chicago’s society will be there, Candy, it will be a night to remember, you
must absolutely come with us…”

“Annie, even if I wanted to come I
couldn’t, first of all I am not invited…”

“Yes you are,” said Archie,
“the invitation was for the Ardlay family any member can attend. If Eliza and
Neal can be there then you certainly can!”

Candy gave a short, amused
laugh. “If Eliza and Neal can be there, it is a definite no-no for me! I don’t
want to go. And besides, I will not be here then…”

“Where will you be?”
Archie asked curiously.

Candy did not answer immediately. She knew the
impact her news would have on her friends and how they would react to hear it.

“I am going to New York…”

“You what?” Archie momentarily took his
eyes of the road to look at her.

“I am going to New York,” she said
again more so that this fact could sink in to her rather than inform her
friends. “We were told this morning,” she started explaining. “Five nurses from
ten hospitals all over the country will be dispatched to St Vincent’s hospital
in New York, each one a three months contract. The hospital is receiving a huge
number of wounded soldiers from Europe everyday and they cannot cope with the
amount of nurses they have, so they asked for help from other hospitals. I am
leaving Monday…” she stopped as if to give herself even more time to get used to
the idea. She sighed heavily. “From all places!” she murmured
again.

Annie moved in the back sit from behind Archie to behind Candy so
that she can reach over and hug her friend. Archie was gripping the wheel as if
it had suddenly detached itself from the dashboard and he was trying to hold it
in place. They remained in silence for a while then Archie said:

“It will
be OK Candy, New York is a very big city. It is unlikely you will bump into
anyone you don’t want to…”

“What if I want to?” The thought crept
in her mind suddenly, and sent shivers down her spine. She turned and looked at
Archie and smiled. “You are right of course, darling. There is nothing to worry
about.”

“Candy…” Annie said sadly. Candy turned and looked at her
smiling. There was no reason to upset her friends.

“I will be fine,
Annie please do not worry about me.”

“Who said she is worried?” Archie
said lightly. “Anyway, it is a pity you are leaving so soon. Monday? That means
we have to get back from Lakewood Sunday, as early as possible so you can get
packed.”

“I still want to go to Pony’s Home on Saturday if that is OK
with you,” said Candy who realized suddenly that it was now imperative that she
visit her home since she will not be back for 3 months.

Archie had
read her thoughts. “Of course we are going, Candy, especially since you are
leaving for 3 months. Oh, and there is a surprise for you at home!”

“Really?” Candy said excitedly. Anything that will take her mind of
this trip will be good. “What is it?”

“Now, now Candy if we tell you it
will not be a surprise anymore, will it?”

“Yeah,
it will be his new pet,” Archie laughed. Annie and Candy giggled. Joking about
Albert’s obsession about bringing them out of the ordinary animals as their pets
was a secret amusing talk for them.

They were silent for most of the
ride after that. Certainly no one mentioned Candy’s trip to New York again.
Candy had the opportunity to dwell a bit on the thought that caused her shivers
earlier on. Was that why she did not want to go to New York really? Not because
he did not want to see him, but because… she did? She shook her head to clear it
from this thought. “Don’t be stupid Candy,” she told herself
reassuringly. “It has been two years since he last saw you.
He probably does
not even remember your name any more…” The pain this last thought caused to
her heart though, made her realize that it was far from reassuring…

The
front door of the vast mansion opened as Archie was pulling up on the driveway.
Candy turn towards it expecting to see Aunt Elroy only to see, her
father.

“Albert!!!”

“Ta-taaaa!” Archie said happily.

“Surprise!” Said Albert cheerfully. Candy got out of the car and run to
hug her adoptive father. Despite being practically father and daughter, Albert
and Candy had gone into a little debate soon after Albert revealed his identity
a year ago as to what was the best way for her to address him.

“I am
thinking it should be Father or Daddy,” Candy had said playfully.

“And I
am thinking, don’t you dare!” he had said and he sounded as if he was actually
scared she was going to start calling him so.

“You will be calling me Albert
like you always have.”

“But I did not know you were my father!” she had
said still pulling his leg. “I would not have dared call you anything other than
Father or Daddy had I known. Have you ever heard of anyone calling their father
by their name?”

“No, but a lot of people would have a much better
relationship with their father if they were on a first name basis,” Albert had
reasoned. “Besides we have known each other since forever and it has worked fine
till now. I don’t want our relationship to change just because I singed a paper
once that says you are my daughter.”

She had not argued with that. She
would always be grateful Albert for everything he had done for her and she
reveled in their friendship. She was not about to spoil things by starting
calling him something he did not like. Now, as she was hugging him, she
momentarily forgot about her dreaded upcoming trip to New York. “Oh, it’s so
good to see you!” she said. “Surprise indeed! How are you? How was your trip?
What did you bring me?” She added mischievously.

Albert laughed
heartily. “It’s in the library,” he said still laughing.

“Is it alive?”
Annie asked unable to disguise the uneasiness in her low voice.

“What
dear?” Albert asked, turning to her smiling.

Archie stepped between them.
“Nothing…” he said with a forced laugh. “Pay no attention to her, she is…uhm…
tired!” He turned away from his uncle and shot a swift murderous glare at Annie,
who recoiled.

“Well, come on then, Candy said let’s go see what it
is!”

They all moved into the library. With large windows overlooking the
back garden, a welcoming fire always alight in the fireplace, hundreds of
bookshelves heaving with thousands of books and comfortable couches and
armchairs, the library was easily everyone’s favorite room in the otherwise cold
and bleak mansion. A small stack of boxes was in front of the fireplace and,
apprehensively, Archie and Annie picked up the box with their name on. Candy
felt a little bit worried when she realized there was no box with her name on
it. Had it perhaps crawled, hopped or slithered away?

Albert’s presents
were always a topic for conversation, especially, if they were alive! Candy
always marveled at his insistence to set time aside during his long and busy
trips to find the right present for everyone in his family including Neal and
Eliza Rangan and Great Aunt Elroy. But his obsession with bringing them the most
exotic animals he could find so they could keep them as pets, she could never
understand. Especially since no one was getting remotely excited about them any
more. As Archie put it after the albino snake had appeared a year and a half
ago, what was wrong with cats and dogs? And who needs pet animals anyway? He
himself, he had said, was more likely to start having nothing more exotic than
clown fish for pets from then on!

Albert had not been discouraged,
however, and only a few months later he returned for Mexico with a 6-feet-long
iguana. The poor creature, feeling threated from Eliza’s shrieks of terror, it
had puffed up its body and displayed the dewlap under its head, something that
made it look even scarier so that everyone started shrieking along with Eliza.
Of course the iguana had become even more frightened then and had delivered a
bite at Neal’s leg who just happened to be the person nearest to it; Neal had
been taken to the nearest hospital for stitches and Albert, with George’s help,
had taken the iguana to the nearest pet store.

But the iguana was not
the worst “little pet” Albert had brought them in Candy’s opinion. She was
certain it would be a very long time before anyone could forget the enormous
tarantula from Colombia he had presented them with last Christmas! Candy closed
her eyes and shook her head to dispel the image of the gigantic orange arachnid
crawling up Aunt Elroy’s skirt. She never wanted to see anything that even
resembled the creepy creature, ever again! Although she was reminded of it every
time Eliza appeared in front of her, for some reason…

“This is just like
Christmas!” Archie was now saying, picking up his huge box after he had made
sure it was not breathing fire.

“Yes, we should be doing it more often,”
Candy laughed nervously, while unconsciously looking all over the floor for her
box. Annie was timidly shaking hers trying to listed for a noise coming from
inside. “Go on Annie, open yours first!” Candy prompted.

Annie’s
present, to her relief, was nothing more spectacular than a colorful dress and
lots of different accessories for her hair; Archie got yards and yards of
different kinds of material, enough to have 7 new suits and shirts tailored;
there were boxes with Neal and Eliza’s names on them; but to Candy’s constantly
increasing nervousness, there still was no apparent present for her!

“And now for Candy’s present,” Albert said smiling. He then stuck his
head out the library’s door and called George.

“George, you can bring
him in now!”

“Him?” Archie’s whisper came with a heavy nervous hint on
it. “Oh geez, here comes the live one…”

Albert turned back to them and George followed him
carrying a large square something that was completely covered with a brown
cloth. “Hello everyone,” said George, “how are you all doing?”

At the
sight of what he was holding and what it might be hiding underneath the cloth,
the girls did not trust themselves to speak.

“Yes…” murmured Archie.

Albert was trying not to laugh watching their nervous faces. “I can
assure you, you will love this one…”

Candy felt even more nervous at
that; he had said the same thing about that creepy tarantula! Annie took a step
to her left and hide behind Archie. Candy instinctively moved closer to him also
but thought that it was rather the door they were all ought to be moving closer
to in case they would have to make a quite exit.

“Oh, come now,” said
Albert who looked mightily amused by their nervousness. “He is nothing
terrible…”

“That is a matter of opinion,” said Archie unmoving. Obviously
he was also remembering that his uncle had said the same thing about the
tarantula. “OK… what is it?”

Albert and George burst out laughing with
them again and finally Albert pulled the cloth off Candy’s present. All three of
them took a sharp breath. It was a cage and inside it, perched imperially on a
sole tree branch was a magnificent parrot! A huge bird with plumage so rich and
colorful it took their breath away. Candy thought it looked like a rainbow: its
head and shoulders were a vivid scarlet color, changing to yellow about mid
body, and finally turning to blue and green on the lower part of the body and
wings. Its long, pointed tail was a deep shade of blue mixed in with rich red.
The bird turned his regal head around and looked straight at Candy and she fell
in love with it at once. This time, Candy had to admit; her father had nailed
her with his present.

“Oh my God, he is gorgeous!” she exclaimed in
amazement. She moved closer to the cage to look at the grand bird. Even Annie
was kneeling by the cage admiring him. Archie was breathing again.

“So
you like it?” Albert asked Candy and there was a bit of anxiety in his voice.

“I love him!” She exclaimed and turning to him she gave him a hug and a
kiss. “Thank you so much, this is the best present ever!”

“Beats the
tarantula?” He asked with a mocking smile.

Everyone laughed, mostly to
stop him from continuing on the subject. Albert started explaining to them about
the parrot. “He is a Scarlet Macaw,” he said. “He is only about 4 months old, he
is still a baby! If we look after him properly he will be with us for a very
long time, as parrots can live up to 80 years (Archie whistled at that). Parrots
are supposed to be very playful and highly intelligent birds, but they are also
very loud when screeching and very talkative when talking.”

“He talks?”
They asked all together even more excitedly.

“Only Brazilian I’m
afraid,” Albert said. “We’ll just have to learn Portuguese to be able to talk to
him…”

Candy snorted and Archie laughed but Annie looked at Albert
concerned. “I am not good at learning foreign languages and I hear Portuguese
are rather difficult.”

Albert looked at her, disbelief written all over
his face while Archie rolled his eyes. Candy turned to Annie. “We won’t have to
Annie, we can teach him to talk in English,” she said glaring at Albert and
Archie. Annie sighed with relief at not having to learn Portuguese.

A
maid came in with tea at that moment and they all moved to sit around the
fireplace, although none of them was able to keep their eyes away from the
parrot for too long. Albert talked to them about his trip and the exotic,
far-away places he visited this time in South America, places the rest of them
could still only dream about. As always it made them very jealous that the most
exotic place they had ever traveled to was London! “Not true,” said
Annie “we went to Scotland too…”

“Oh yeah,” Archie mocked, “very exotic
Scotland is! So all that rain we got drenched in were tropical showers, was it?
If you are unlucky and blink once during the summer you will miss the sun coming
out from behind the clouds! Goodness, the hottest thing they have is their
ice-cubes… which is obviously why ice-cubes are so rare to find in
Scotland!”

Everyone laughed, except Candy. She turned and looked at her
parrot again. The mention of London and Scotland was enough to trigger torrents
of memories succeeding with lightning speed through her mind, from the moment
she first met him on the ship to the moment she last saw him at the stairs of a
hospital in New York, which lead her to remember that on Monday she will have to
go back to that city, where she had left her heart two years ago… New York… the
only place in the world she would rather not go. She sighed heavily.

“Candy?” Albert was looking at her inquisitively.

“Hmm?”

“Are you still with us?”

“Of course I am,” she said
but she was too serious to fool him.

“What’s the matter?”

She
decided that this was as good a time as any to tell him about her temporary
transfer. “I have to go to New York”.

A cloud passed over Albert’s eyes.
“Why?” He asked.

She explained to him about her assignment briefly. None
of them was joking anymore. Albert looked at her seriously.

“Do you want
me to speak to …”

“NO!” she said categorically. “I don’t want you to
speak to anybody. It was enough when you talk to them to take me back after
Neal’s meddling that had me fired, and besides this is a different matter. I
want to go and help with the wounded. I just wish it was… somewhere
else,” she finished in a low voice.

There were a few moments quiet.
“Well, New York is a very big city, Candy. It is unlikely you will see anyone
you don’t want to…”

“Funnily enough, that is exactly what Archie said
earlier”, she said with a small smile. And like earlier it did not make her feel
any better.

“What are you going to do with the parrot?” asked
Annie

Candy had not thought of that. “Oh!”

“She can take him with
her,” Albert said. “The New York apartment is big enough…”

“I doubt they will allow you
to keep the parrot at the hospital dormitories Candy,” said Albert. “We could
keep it here, but when you come back in 6 months, it will be a bit difficult for
him to bond with you. The Macaws are very loyal and get very attached to one
person and if in the meantime he gets attached to someone else…”

“Oh no,
I don’t want to leave him,” Candy said a bit upset at the prospect of leaving her
new pet. She walked over to the cage and started cooing over the parrot. “Hi
gorgeous, you want to come with me in New York? Can you say Candy?” Right on
cue, the parrot let out a loud screech no one would ever mistake for ‘Candy’,
but Candy!

“Oh, my God, he said my name!” she shrieked in delight. The
others laughed.

“Well since he is saying your name already, I think you
need to consider the option of staying at the apartment rather than the
dormitory,” said Albert still laughing.

They talked about this for a
while and in the end they decided that Candy would travel with the other nurses
to New York on Monday then inform the hospital that she was not going to take
the accommodation offered for more than a week, since she had a place to stay
while in New York. She would also ask Erin if she wanted to go and live with her
in the flat too as, as Albert said, there was enough space for 6 people to live
there permanently without being on top of each other. Candy could only imagine
how spacious the apartment was! In the meantime Albert would arrange for the
place to be cleaned and made ready for her and Erin and adapted to accommodate
the parrot, who would travel to New York the next weekend with Dorothy, Candy’s
maid.

Candy was OK with this plan and she hoped that Erin would not have
any objections in coming and staying with her. She did not want to have to live
alone in a massive apartment in the middle of New York only with the parrot for
company. Candy had been sharing a room with Erin for the past 7 months and the
two of them were getting on very good together. Far better than Candy ever got
on with Flammy although she sometimes missed her former roommate and mentor and
whished Flammy had kept in touch with her after she left for France. As it was
nobody at the hospital had heard from her ever since.

“So, Candy, what
are you going to name the parrot?” Archie asked and Candy stared at him blankly.

“Hasn’t he got a name already?” she asked Albert.

“No, he does
not. He was bread at the pet farm and since he was meant for selling, they did
not want to give him a name so that his new owner can do that.”

Candy
looked at the parrot again who was now chewing at the tree branch in his cage.
“Gosh, do I have to come up with a name right now?” she said but Archie was
ahead of her.

“Let’s call him Baz”, he said excitedly.

“Baz? What
kind of name is that for a parrot?” asked Albert laughing. “It sounds like a
stripper’s name! How about Tinga?”

The girls laughed. Candy refrained
from asking Albert how did he know that Baz was a good name for a stripper. The
two guys came up with other names for the parrot each more outrageous from the
other, but each time Candy would shake her head negatively. For some reason none
of those names hit her as the right one for her parrot, although what the right
one would be she had no idea.

The maid came in again to announce that
dinner was to be served in 30 minutes.

“All right, let’s go and get
ready,” said Albert. Then seeing that Eliza and Neal’s present were still there
he wondered aloud where they might be.

“They are out,” Archie informed
him, while stretching and yawning. “She wanted to have a costume made for that
Halloween ball and he drove her. They would have dinner at friends’ house
afterwards.”

“What about Aunt Elroy, how come she is not around?” Albert
asked next.

“I believe she is her room,” Archie said.

Candy was
not surprised the Great Aunt was not around. It had taken her 3 days to recover
her voice from the shock of watching the orange tarantula climb her skirt last
Christmas; frankly Candy would be very surprised if she’d see her Aunt around
when Albert gets home ever again! But, Candy thought watching the still unnamed
parrot trying to unlock his cage, even the Great Aunt would have liked him!

After dinner Candy retreated back in the library with her parrot who had
now fallen asleep and to keep her mind sheltered from the unpleasant memories
her imminent trip to New York was stirring, she picked up the first book off a
shelf and sitting comfortably on the couch in front of the fireplace started
reading. This is what she had done most nights for over a year now. She would
read until her mind was so tired, that when she would get to bed it would fall
asleep instantly rather than delving into things she did not want to remember or
analyze.

No such luck for her that night however. She had picked up a
book with an anthology of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley and the first poem her
eyes fell on as she opened a random page was Remembrance:

Swifter far
than summer's flight--Swifter far than youth's delight--Swifter far than
happy night,Art thou come and gone--As the earth when leaves are
deadAs the night when sleep is sped,As the heart when joy is fled,I
am left lone, alone.

The swallow summer comes again--The owlet night
resumes her reign—But the wild-swan youth is fainTo fly with thee, false
as thou.--My heart each day desires the morrow;Sleep itself is turned to
sorrow;Vainly would my winter borrowSunny leaves from any
bough.

Lilies for a bridal bed--Roses for a matron's
head--Violets for a maiden dead--Pansies let MY flowers be:On the
living grave I bearScatter them without a tear--Let no friend, however
dear,Waste one hope, one fear for me.

Her vision was getting steadily
blurrier and blurrier as she was reading the poem and new that there was no
escaping memories and reflections tonight. And that sleep would only come to her
if she cried herself to it.